Lightbulb Dialogue Assignment

A Glowing Situation

The Characters:
Judy- Stubborn girl who chooses to be against CFLs no matter what.
Carmela- A little more lenient than Judy, because while she is still with Judy on CFLs being harmful, she is only put off by the amount of mercury that each one carries inside of them.
Alessandro- The optimistic idealist, who is all for switching to CFLs bulbs.

"I still haven't made up my mind," thought Carmela as she scratched her head.

"Oh, come on, you guys!" repeated Alessandro indignantly. "There's not even anything to question. We've gotta save energy by switching the lightbulbs in our treehouse to these CFLs! Their compact fluorescence emits less carbon dioxide than a standard incandescent light bulb, and that will contribute towards our ability to save energy and help the environment..."

Carmela just had to cut in on Alessandro's tirade. "These light-bulbs that you think are going to help us are only going to stab you in the back later. There's just no way that the light that is compacted in those can possibly be any stronger or more efficient than any regular bulb."

Alessandro was astounded by the very idea that these pathetic people could possibly be his friends if they continued to think this way. "Um... duh? In this situation, of course the CFLs win out. Their energy is used more slowly, because all the energy is put into producing light, not heat. It's a win win situation, because with more visable light being put out into the room instead of energy-wasting heat, we get to have our cake and eat it too!"

Judy looked very skeptical about the whole thing. "Well, doesn't that mean that you can say it's better for us... we're looking for bulbs that can light up a living room. CFLs are only efficient when you're using them in places where you can turn them on and off again, because that way the electrodes aren't susceptible to wearing out.

Carmela added her two cents. "Don't forget about the mercury factor, too. Those bulbs are loaded with mercury, which of course is poisonous when left there for so long. Not to mention the lead poisoning..."

"Lol, I say to you! Lol!" Cried Alessandro in desperation. "You know NOTHING!"

Carmela whispered in Judy's ear, "Did he seriously just say lol out loud..."

Alessandro was too busy ranting to pay attention to that. "You people need to think about your life choices. All you have to do is follow these simple steps, and we'll never have to worry about spending extra money for something we don't need again! We'll install these in our office spaces, where they will be left on for 15 minutes or more, so it'll be no big deal! Plus, an incandescent bulb won't be able to work anymore when it's tungsten filament evaporates, and the CFL tops that by correct usage. It won't break as easily as your crummy incandescents would!"

Judy was indignant, and yet stood her ground against the force of Alessandro's so called "science."

"Those bulbs are not going to last forever, you know, and on top of that, they actually cause more harm than good if you install them, because they don't work as efficiently in extreme cold or heat!
Think about the situation in Canada... they have much older incandescent bulb models, and in the wintry months, that can be super effective to generate heat without burning any fossil fuels. Their heat produced from use enabled them to carry on warming up the house long after they were turned off, unlike newer CFL bulbs, which produce minimal heat. When you install those bulbs in your house, you have no choice but to use some precious fossil fuels such as gas, oil or wood, which all cause... guess what? Greenhouse gas emissions."

"Alessandro's response was calm and thought out. "Well... incandescents will probably not last long enough for them, and any sort of real climactic shift won't occur in our lifetime, but I'm willing to bet that they'll last longer than your measly bulbs anyway, because of the power of RECYCLING! 

Allow me to explain. When we use incandescents, we are actually leaking  mercury into the environment via the indirect process of production. CFLs give off hardly any greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, in fact, it's at least one third less than what incandescents give off. By using the older, cheaper bulbs, we are inadvertently killing ourselves without even knowing it...."

Alessandro gave a cocky grin after that sentance. "You see, baby, if only you knew the science, you'd understand."

That was the last straw. Judy was ticked off. "Oh, I know my science, alright. Let me explain you a thing, good sir. You see, the process of recycling something is way bonkers expensive. Currently, only two percent of CFL bulbs are being recycled. Two percent! And that means incandescents are easier to dispose of. Not only that, but if someone who wasn't prepared to handle a lightbulb got a hold of that walking atomic bomb, such as a young child or infant, they would get seriously sick from all the mercury being stored inside it. Furthermore, the average price of a CFL bulb is... have you checked this? OVER THREE TIMES MORE. We'd be broke if we replaced every single light in the treehouse with these things."

"I see. A valid point!" Alessandro smirked. "Yet I beg to differ. CFLs last longer, so there's no need to purchase multiple backups if just one will do... Oh, poor sweet innocently misguided Judy. In the time that we have spent talking about this, you could have made a major decision that would affect the rest of your lives. I'm sticking with the CFLs, and there's nothing you can do to stop me."

"Well, I'm not giving up until you accept that incandescents have to stay!" shouted Judy.

"Oh yeah? MAKE me!"

"No, YOU make me!"

Finally, after watching the two look like they're about to stab each other's hearts out with a piece of lightbulb, Carmela decided to intervene with some useful advice. "HEY! Listen to me!"

Both boy and girl sheepishly glanced at Carmela. 

"What you guys have got all wrong is that there isn't a wrong or right answer," calmly reasoned Carmela. "There will always be different options for every different type of consumer. No matter what amount of mercury CFLs contain, no matter how harmful incandescents are to the environment, both will always have some kind of positive aspect about them. For CFLs, they emit less carbon dioxide and don't wear out as easily from overuse. For incandescents, they shine brighter due to excess heat, and can generate more power in the long run, as well as provide extra warmth in the colder months."

"Both can be right, and both can be wrong. There is no true right side as long as we keep these positive things in mind, you know."

Alessandro looked positively touched by Carmela's daring speech. "Well, I suppose you've both made some valid points... I suppose you can't change every mind in the world, can you?"

"No, I suppose not," replied Judy as she grabbed Alessandro's hand and shook it. "Sorry I lost my temper back there. I guess I'm with Carmela in this case... maybe we don't know if there really is a right answer just yet."

"That's the spirit!" said Carmela. "Now, here's what I have in mind. We can get several of both kinds! We'll test them out by putting some CFLs in the bathroom, where we go almost all the time anyway. Then we can see for ourselves! What do you say to that?"

"I'm in," said Judy. "But my room gets the CFLs, period. Just so I can prove this guy all wrong"

"Same," joined in Alessandro, "Only... the opposite. I get incandescents. For bragging rights when they completely fail on me."

Carmela sighed. "Some things never change..."

The three friends walked back to the treehouse after buying both CFLs and incandescent lightbulbs. They couldn't wait to tell the professor their new ideas on light energy and different kinds of ways to experiment with it. As they all walked out of the store, each one was happy about their respective decisions, and ready to face whatever the future had to offer them.